Terminal devices connectable to a wired or wireless LAN (Local Area Network) are growing in number and convenience of information exchange has been greatly improved as information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure is being deployed. As communication standards for such LANs, the IEEE 802.3 standard for wired LANs and the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless LANs are widely used.
The IEEE 802.11 standard incorporates network management methods, such as a terminal-device authentication method, of the IEEE 802.3 standard for wired LANs. Constructing a wireless LAN in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 standard allows settings of terminal devices to be made through similar processes at transition from a wired LAN to a wireless LAN or for combined use of a wired LAN and a wireless LAN. However, convenience native to wireless communication is impaired in some cases as a result of incorporating the management methods for wired LANs into a wireless LAN.
For example, the IEEE 802.11 standard requires that cumbersome authentication steps should be performed when connecting a terminal device to a network to determine authenticity of the terminal device and the like as does the IEEE 802.3 standard.
Meanwhile, wireless technologies are also widely used in interfaces, such as projectors and displays, for example, for one-to-one connection to a personal computer (PC). A security function similar to that for network connection, namely, a security function requirement set by the IEEE 802.11 standard, is also inherited to authentication for such connection.
Such one-to-one interface connection is in many cases temporary connection used only during a period of meeting, for example, and it is clearly undesirable that many cumbersome steps are required to establish the connection or to change a terminal device to be connected.
The same holds true to temporary connections between a plurality of terminal devices in a confined area in such a circumstance, which is arising more frequently as variety of electronic information increases, where terminal devices such as PCs are brought into a meeting room or the like to share a file.
A possible solution for this problem is personal area network (PAN) such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) that performs terminal-device authentication by causing terminal devices to exchange an authentication code which is called a personal identification number (PIN) code or a passcode.
Known examples of a wireless communication terminal device that uses Bluetooth (registered trademark) described above include a wireless communication terminal device in which an equipment list containing equipment IDs, profile types (types of equipment), and positional information about installation locations of other wireless communication terminal devices (e.g., equipment present in an office) on a per-wireless-communication-terminal-device basis is stored in advance. In response to user's selection of a wireless communication terminal device at a desired installation location, for example, from the equipment list displayed on each of the wireless communication terminal devices, wireless communication connection is established between a wireless communication terminal device of the user and the selected wireless communication terminal device (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-290416, for example).
However, the wireless communication terminal device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-290416 premises that the positional information is stored in the equipment list in advance. Accordingly, when the wireless communication terminal has been relocated from its installation location, the positional information in the equipment list becomes useless. For this reason, with the conventional wireless communication terminal device described above, a communications partner cannot be selected appropriately from the equipment list in such an application where temporary communication connection is carried out between wireless communication terminal devices moved into a meeting room or the like.
Furthermore, in a PAN such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), a connection range is indefinite because means that explicitly specifies a connectable physical range (e.g., within a meeting room, at distances up to 10 meters, or the like) is not provided, and it is necessary to perform an authentication process, such as exchange of a PIN code, for ensuring a security function similar to that of network communication for identification of a target object which is a connection target. Accordingly, connection cannot be established easily.
Thus, authentication and communication establishing means convenient and suited for circumstances where temporary connection between terminal devices in a predetermined area, such as a meeting room, for example, is desirable is not provided yet.
Therefore, there is a need for a system capable of establishing communication connection in wireless communication in a temporarily-used area, such as a meeting room, by performing authentication of terminal devices easily and quickly by utilizing a fact that the terminal devices are at a same place at same time.